Seal tags are used to ensure that oil or other products are not improperly accessed between services of a dispensing unit. Once a product has been dispensed from the dispensing unit, a seal tag is placed on the dispensing unit such that product cannot further be dispensed with the seal tag in place. In some examples, such as oil dispensing, a number is added such that the number should match between authorized service appearances at the dispensing object. Often, these numbers are recorded each time a dispensing unit is accessed and later monitored to determine if any discrepancies exist between the authorized visits.
In addition to monitoring oil distribution units, oil companies may also choose to monitor the equipment that services the distribution units. This monitoring typically includes drivers or operators recording, in paper form, the condition of the equipment. Such recording could include the oil level, the tire pressure, the gas level, or any other information about the equipment.
Barcodes and Quick Response Codes (QR Codes) are used to identify objects or provide other information about an object. A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data relating to an object. These codes are one-dimensional and are capable of being read by specially made scanners, phones, or any other device optically capable of scanning barcodes. In comparison, QR Codes are two-dimensional codes that are capable of storing a greater amount of data than Barcodes. QR Codes may be scanned using special scanners, phones, or other devices configured to read the encoded data.